Exit Readiness Isn't a Phase. It's a Day-One Mindset.

Portfolio operations has grown from a function that fixed struggling companies into a core driver of returns across the entire investment lifecycle. Selim Loukil of Advent traces how that shift has played out in practice. Earlier involvement during diligence, longer engagement periods that now stretch to 36 months or more, and an explicit focus on building internal capabilities so the operating partner ultimately makes themselves redundant.In conversation with Paul Reading of Accordion, the discussion covers the growing role of Chief Transformation Officers inside portfolio companies, why emotional intelligence has become as important as technical expertise in driving management performance, and how the best firms are thinking about AI. Not as a blanket efficiency play, but as a signal of organisational maturity to future buyers.